A Beef + Lamb New Zealand Focus Group gave one young Northland farming couple the opportunity to identify ways they could make an already high-performing beef finishing operation even better.
Ryan and Annie O’Callaghan returned to Ryan’s family farm, Temataa Station, five years ago and have been working through succession, gradually assuming more and more responsibility of the 760ha bull-beef finishing operation near Taipa.
Before returning home, Ryan, who has an Agricultural Science Degree and Annie, who studied at Taratahi, had both been on working farms to broaden their experience and skill-base.
Ryan’s parents Dennis and Rachelle O’Callaghan, who were B+LNZ Monitor Farmers in 2004 and were Supreme Winners in the Northland Ballance Farm Environment Awards in 2016, have built a reputation for being outstanding operators, and Ryan and Annie are determined to continue in their high-performance footsteps.
Having seen how his farther had benefited from his involvement in industry groups over the years, Ryan jumped at the opportunity to join the Kaingaora Animal Production Focus Group when it was formed last year. The couple has subsequentially put their hands up to be a B+LNZ Hub Farm with the goal of increasing production by 76kg CW/ha.
“We really wanted to see what we could be doing better. We are both really passionate about farming and saw an opportunity to meet and learn from other people.”
Being part of a Focus Group also gave Ryan and Annie an opportunity to get off-farm and socialise with like-minded people. As an AI technician for LIC, Annie says she got off farm a lot more than Ryan and benefitted from the social aspect of the Focus Group.
“The social aspect of the Focus Group was important for us. It was really good for our mental health having that social day with likeminded farmers, picking their brains and not feeling so isolated.”
They say they met a lot of farmers doing some great work and really enjoyed having the opportunity to talk to other very engaged farmers as well as experts such as beef specialist Bob Thompson and local vet Garth Riddle.
With the support of the Focus Group and Garth Riddle, the couple has been working towards reducing their reliance on drenches to manage internal parasites.
They have been using Faecal Egg Counts in inform their decisions about when to drench as well as carrying out FEC reduction tests to test the efficacy of their
drenches. They have also learnt what worms they are targeting at different times of the year and have been implementing management changes, such as cross-grazing pastures with different classes of cattle, to help control larvae on the pasture.
All of this has enabled them to half their drench use without compromising production.
“We used to drench our calves every four weeks; we are now sometimes able to stretch this out to 12 weeks,” says Annie.
The couple use two-year old bulls to prepare the calves’ wintering pastures and have implemented longer round lengths, so they are feeding calves particularly well in late winter and early spring. Well-fed stock can better tolerate worm burdens.
As part of this focus on feeding as a worm management strategy, they are looking at ways to improve pasture quality in their Kikuyu dominant pastures.
“Increasing pasture quality all relates to feeding stock better and reducing our reliance on drenches. Everything ties together,” says Ryan.
Annie says their Focus Group met every six to eight weeks and they returned from their meetings “with their heads spinning.”
“We covered so much; we came home brainstorming new trials we could carry out on the farm and different ideas we would like to implement or work with.”
They both relished the opportunity to throw around ideas with farmers who brought a wide range of experience to their Focus Group.
“We keep pushing each other to maintain the momentum,” says Annie.
“Ryan and I have learnt so much. They are so knowledgeable and have so much farming experience, we are seeing things from a different point of view.”
B+LNZ’s Focus Groups
B+LNZ Focus Groups are a small group learning initiative introduced into the extension programme as part of B+LNZ’s refreshed strategy.
They are topic focused, and outcomes driven, providing farmers’ the opportunity to learn from other members and subject matter experts. These groups are deliberately kept small to ensure everyone gets a chance to share their experiences and learn from each other.
Each group is a closed group for the duration, usually over two years with eight group days in total. The group activity is designed to help participants learn, identify opportunities and then identify actions to take ‘back home’ – delivering real value now and into the future.
A Focus Group is free to all B+LNZ levy payers and their employees; these groups are closed groups with members committing to the full group journey. Find out more here.